PHUKET is to gain a large new public hospital as the island's existing public hospitals deal with rapid development on Phuket by expanding or providing satellite services.
Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha told Phuketwan this week that ''a second Vachira'' is in the planning stages and has been discussed and approved at senior levels in Bangkok.
Phuket's rapid population growth is putting pressure on existing services.
Vachira Phuket Hospital, based in Phuket City, will formally open one satellite later this month and plans a second for Karon on Phuket's west coast and a third to the east at Korkaew as Phuket becomes one large metropolis.
Further north, Thalang Hospital is also opening a new outpatient's section and a new, four-storey wing is due to be complete in 2014 at a cost of 100 million baht.
The addition will have facilities for outpatients on the first floor, dental needs and a laboratory on the second, intensive care on the third and operating rooms on the fourth.
Thalang currently deals with 350 outpatients a day, plus 70 emergency cases. The hospital has a staff of nine doctors and 70 nurses.
A ''satellite'' approach is being taken at Vachira Phuket Hospital as Phuket grows and spreads.
A new outpatients' department will be opened by the Public Health Minister, Jurin Laksanavisit, at Phuket City's southern Slaughterhouse Intersection, not far from the Poonpol district, on March 21.
The seven-storey building, formerly a commercial development, has 68 rooms and an underground car park with space for 126 vehicles. The cost of 142 million baht to refurbish and equip the centre is being met by government funds and donations.
In practice, the satellite is open already from 8.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday, offering dental services, prenatal care and emergency treatment.
The satellite enables people from southern Phuket to more rapidly access treatment. At the main Vachira Phuket Hospital about 12 minutes' drive further north, the 503 beds have been placed at substantial pressure by the rising number of people living on Phuket.
The hospital also caters for the medical needs of Phuket's estimated 200,000 legal and illegal Burmese workers. About 1600 people are treated in outpatients here each day.
About 30 percent of Vachira Phuket's patients come south from the neighboring province of Phang Nga.
Vachira Phuket managers are planning another satellite on a two rai property at Karon, in Phuket's south, and at Korkaew, in Phuket's east, as Phuket becomes one large metropolis.
The new private Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation hospital is also due to open in eastern Phuket City in May. That will give Phuket four private hospitals and three public hospitals.
Deadly Riddle of Phi Phi Expat With Broken NeckPhuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha told Phuketwan this week that ''a second Vachira'' is in the planning stages and has been discussed and approved at senior levels in Bangkok.
Phuket's rapid population growth is putting pressure on existing services.
Vachira Phuket Hospital, based in Phuket City, will formally open one satellite later this month and plans a second for Karon on Phuket's west coast and a third to the east at Korkaew as Phuket becomes one large metropolis.
Further north, Thalang Hospital is also opening a new outpatient's section and a new, four-storey wing is due to be complete in 2014 at a cost of 100 million baht.
The addition will have facilities for outpatients on the first floor, dental needs and a laboratory on the second, intensive care on the third and operating rooms on the fourth.
Thalang currently deals with 350 outpatients a day, plus 70 emergency cases. The hospital has a staff of nine doctors and 70 nurses.
A ''satellite'' approach is being taken at Vachira Phuket Hospital as Phuket grows and spreads.
A new outpatients' department will be opened by the Public Health Minister, Jurin Laksanavisit, at Phuket City's southern Slaughterhouse Intersection, not far from the Poonpol district, on March 21.
The seven-storey building, formerly a commercial development, has 68 rooms and an underground car park with space for 126 vehicles. The cost of 142 million baht to refurbish and equip the centre is being met by government funds and donations.
In practice, the satellite is open already from 8.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday, offering dental services, prenatal care and emergency treatment.
The satellite enables people from southern Phuket to more rapidly access treatment. At the main Vachira Phuket Hospital about 12 minutes' drive further north, the 503 beds have been placed at substantial pressure by the rising number of people living on Phuket.
The hospital also caters for the medical needs of Phuket's estimated 200,000 legal and illegal Burmese workers. About 1600 people are treated in outpatients here each day.
About 30 percent of Vachira Phuket's patients come south from the neighboring province of Phang Nga.
Vachira Phuket managers are planning another satellite on a two rai property at Karon, in Phuket's south, and at Korkaew, in Phuket's east, as Phuket becomes one large metropolis.
The new private Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation hospital is also due to open in eastern Phuket City in May. That will give Phuket four private hospitals and three public hospitals.
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